Factfile: Ashwani Kumar, former union law minister

Born in Delhi on October 26, 1952, his father, the late Prabodh Chandra, was a freedom fighter and Congress leader from Gurdaspur, who went on to become an MLA and assembly speaker.

A lawyer by profession, Kumar was educated at St Stephen’s College, Delhi and Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. Ashwani Kumar did his Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) from Panjab University in 2004. He is said to be close to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh

1976: Secretary, Gurdaspur District Congress

1986: Organizing secretary, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee

1990 onwards: Member (elected), AICC

1991: Additional Solicitor General of India

1996: Contested LS poll from Gurdaspur as the Congress (Tiwari) candidate, but lost. The breakaway group later merged with the Congress

1999-2000: AICC spokesperson

May 2002: Elected to Rajya Sabha from Punjab in a bye-election

April 2004: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha

Jan 2006-May 2009: Minister of state in the department of industrial policy and promotion, ministry of commerce and industry